Copyright Guide - Copyright & Digital Course Content

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General Information

Most everything published, epecially on the Internet, is protected by copyright. Exceptions such as fair use allow for some uses without permission, but not all educational uses qualify as fair use. For these uses, you will need the permission of the copyright owner. Unless, that is, you are the copyright owner. When you retain copyright to your own works you get to control how they get used.

• It is expected that all members of the University of Arizona community respect copyright (Title17 of the United States Code http://www.copyright.gov/title17/.

• The principles of copyright law that apply to print materials are the same principles that apply in the digital realm.

• Making digital copies for class use by downloading, scanning, ripping or other means impacts the reproduction right of the copyright owner, and posting material on a web site impacts the reproduction right of the copyright owner.

• Linking to content that is publically available on the Web or licensed by the UA Libraries for use by the university community avoids reproducing the work and does not affect the rights of copyright owners.

• When linking isn’t possible and copying becomes necessary permission is not required for materials in the public domain (generally published before 1923 and works of the U.S. federal government) or works offered for use under a Creative Commons license.

• A respect for copyright law includes an affirmation of fair use (Section 107 of Title 17 of the United States Code. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107

 

Section 107 Fair Use

The legitimate and lawful application of Fair Use rights provides the necessary and constitutionally envisioned balance between the rights of the copyright holder versus societal and educational interests in the dissemination of information. Section 107, which defines fair use, sets forth several balancing factors, each of which need to be considered and evaluated to determine whether a particular use, without prior permission of the copyright owner, is a fair and, therefore, permitted use. A determination of fair use is dependent on the facts of each individual case, and educational use is just one of the factors to be considered. For more information on fair use, see the Fair Use Overview from the Office of General Counsel.

GUIDELINES

If making a copy of a work is necessary, and the work is not in the public domain or available with a Creative Commons license, a fair use analysis should be considered. To help with such an analysis, the Office of General Counsel has prepared a Fair Use Checklist which asks you to identify facts about your particular use that are relevant to the defined fair use factors. As you fill out the checklist you are provided with a PDF of your result for your records.

Although not part of the statute, guidelines for classroom use have been negotiated and can be helpful to get a sense of uses that are broadly accepted as fair. The following are based on the Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying in Not-For- Profit Educational Institutions With Respect To Books And Periodicals. Depending on the circumstances, however, a full fair use review may reasonably justify other or more extensive uses. Permission should be sought from the copyright owner for any use that exceeds fair use. For questions and review of any proposed use, please contact Dan Lee (leed@u.library.arizona.edu) with the Office of Copyright Management & Scholarly Communication.

For the following guidelines, it is assumed that access is limited to those enrolled in or administering the class. This limits the impact on the market for materials used and clarifies that the use is educational.

Book selections

In general, it is acceptable to copy one chapter or 10% of a book, regardless of print status.

Articles

The number of journal, magazine, or newspaper articles that may be copied for each course should be reasonable in relation to the learning objective and total amount of material assigned for one term of a course, taking into account the nature of the course, its subject matter and level.

Consumables

Materials such as case studies, commercial workbooks, exercise sheets, standardized test booklets, etc., that are intended primarily for classroom use should not be copied or made available for copying without permission of the copyright owner.

Audio selections

Audio from lawfully acquired sources may be made available as streamed files to reduce the likelihood of   further copying and saving of individual files.

Video selections

Video from lawfully acquired sources may be made available as streamed files to reduce the likelihood of   further copying and saving of individual files. For more information, see the UA Libraries Video Streaming for Course Uses: Instructors' Frequently Asked Questions.

Class Notes/Course Packs

Entire Class Notes packets prepared by the UA Fast Copy service or other commercial vendors should not be copied for this use. Fast Copy pays permission fees in order to create Class Notes packets, and the agreements they sign only cover the production of Class Notes.

Copyright Notice

Instructors should provide the appropriate copyright information for each reading or other work copied. If the correct copyright owner is unknown, a general statement that the material used is protected by copyright can be used.  

Restricted Access

To qualify as fair use under these guidelines or a full fair use analysis, course materials that are copied must be protected by password access for those enrolled or administering the class. This can be done through D2L (Desire2Learn), Blackboard, or other mechanism.

For additional information on this topic see:

U.S. Copyright Office Webpage http://www.copyright.gov/

Association of Research Libraries' "Applying Fair Use in the Development Electronic Reserves Systems" http://www.arl.org/pp/ppcopyright/copyresources/applying.shtml

Music Library Association's "Statement on the Digital Transmission of Electronic Reserves"
http://www.lib.jmu.edu/Org/MLA/Guidelines/Accepted%20Guidelines/Digital%20Reserves.aspx

University of Arizona's Office of the General Counsel http://ogc.arizona.edu

UA Libraries Copyright Guide http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/copyright/index.html